The MatrixThe Beginning
by combobulator
Summary: In the early 21st century, mankind gave birth to A.I. This is the story of the creation of the Matrix and how the machines took control of the humans. (After much time, chapter 11 has finally been posted. Dont forget to R&R)
1. Success

One day, I hit him, like a boulder across the face. The idea came to him suddenly and unexpectedly.  
  
Tim Reed was a computer engineer. He based his life on designing and programming computers. Tim had worked for RoboTech Industries since he was 24. Tim had built many things for the company. He had made many technical advances and discovered many things. Tim's current project was something big, something that could change the world forever. Tim was part of a crew set up to design artificial intelligence, also known as A.I.  
  
On Tuesday, January 6, 2017, an idea sparked inside Tim Reed's brain. Everybody else in the A.I. crew had gone to lunch, but Tim decided to stay overtime a bit. He figured he'd put in a few extra hours and maybe gain that promotion he's been looking forward to.  
  
While programming some new functions into the newest prototype's CPU, he got this idea, it felt to him as if it had been planted there, by some mysterious being. He quickly studied his data and records and discovered the problem. He spent the rest of the day making adjustments, programming the prototype, making it perfect.  
  
"Tim, it's 10:00, you are officially off duty. Don't you want to leave now?" Tim's friend Michael Garcia had been bugging Tim to leave with him, Mike's car had broken down the day before and Tim was his only ride home.  
  
"I told you, I stumbled on to something, I think I can do this, just give me 15 minutes." Tim said not turning away from his work.  
  
"You said that over half an hour ago," Mike said angrily. "Forget it, I'm calling a cab."  
  
"No thanks, I'm not hungry," Tim said, he obviously had no idea what Michael had said. Tim wasn't usually such a hard worker, in fact he used to spend the last 15 minutes until he got off work staring at the clock, hoping for it to go faster, but today was an exception. Tim had stumbled on to something big, and he wasn't about to forget it in his sleep.  
  
Tim worked and worked the night away; he wasn't going to quit until he was finished. But that was easier said than done, his eyelids were getting heavy, his legs were getting weak, and he was out for the night. At 1:49 a.m. on Wednesday, January 7th, 2017, Tim slept fell asleep at work.  
  
"Tim, wake up man" Tim was asleep on the floor being kicked by a co- worker.  
  
"Ah, shit, did I fall asleep?" Tim asked while getting up. The man who had woken him up was his friend and colleague Steven Scott.  
  
"Yeah, you did. Are you all right man?" Steven asked. "What happened?"  
  
"I was working late last night, I was onto something, something big," Tim got up and took a look at his work; it was just the way he had left it. "Thanks for waking me up man, but I have to get back to work."  
  
"Is this for that special project everybody's talking about, I heard you were put on the team?"  
  
"Yeah, I just had a major breakthrough and… well, I have to get back to work," Tim quickly continued what he was doing the night before.  
  
"Alright, I have to get to work too anyways, see ya," Steven walked out out of the room leaving Tim to work. Thirty minutes later, Tim Reed came running into the boss's room screaming, "I'VE DONE IT, I'VE DONE IT!!!!!" 


	2. It Can Talk

"Slow down, just slow down Mr. Reed," Tim's boss, Brendan Byrne said trying to calm down the overexcited employee whom had burst into his room screaming.  
  
"It worked, it worked!!!!" Tim said smiling and laughing. "Come with me sir," Tim grabbed his boss's hand and dragged him to the lab he had been working in. "Look," Tim pointed to the table he had been working on.  
  
"I… I don't see anything?" Mr. Byrne was confused. There wasn't anything on the table aside from some schematics and a bunch of mechanical junk. Tim turned around to look at the table, his boss was right; there wasn't anything there. There was no way all off that hard work could have been a dream, he was sure it was real. Somebody must have stolen it. 'No' he thought, 'wait a minute.' Tim tried to remember what had happened after he had completed his prototype. It was all a blur; he was so excited he hadn't paid attention. Then he remembered, in all the hurry he forgot to shut the thing off.  
  
"It was here, I know it was," Tim said, he began looking under tables and behind filing cabinets.  
  
"Well I doubt it got up and walked away, don't you Mr. Reed?" his boss said. How highly ironic that was. Tim chuckled slightly. "What is it you wanted to show me?" Mr. Byrne said impatiently.  
  
"Well," Tim said nervously, "you know the project you put me on? I think we have a success."  
  
"Y…you…you mean…" Mr. Byrne was stuttering. "Well then I guess it did get up and walk away, what does this thing look like?"  
  
"Well, it's humanoid, um, jet black, you know, the usual," Tim continued looking around. "Where could it have gone?" Tim was getting worried. He ran off into the next room, the lounge. Tim sighed with relief.  
  
"Mr. Byrne," he called his boss over. "I'd like you to meet Adam," Tim pointed to the TV, and in front of it, was a small, 4-foot tall, jet- black robot. Tim ran up to Adam and flipped a small switch on his back marked POWER. Adam quickly became limp and fell to the ground.  
  
"Shall I call the Nobel Prize committee or should you," Mr. Byrne said smiling.  
  
"Not yet, I only gave him the ability to learn, that doesn't mean he knows anything. We should hire some teachers or something, someone to help him learn." Tim said carrying Adam back to the workstation.  
  
"Good idea," Mr. Byrne said. "And Tim," he said just before running off to go hire a teacher. "Tell no one about this, no one outside of the crew assigned to this project that is, understand?"  
  
"Got it," Tim ran back to the workstation. He wanted to try Adam out once more; he had never been more excited. Tim reached behind Adam and flipped the POWER switch again. Adam, who was lying completely still jerked into motion. He raised his head to look at Tim, their eyes met. Tim put his hand out in front of him, Adam did the same. Tim wiggled his fingers, moving them up and down, side to side. Adam did the same. Tim was amazed; this was so exciting to him. An idea struck in Tim's head. Tim turned the back of his hand towards Adam and put down all of his fingers… except one. Once again, Adam did whatever Tim did. Tim nearly fell on the floor; he couldn't control his laughter.  
  
"This is great," Tim chuckled. He suddenly stopped laughing, he could hear footsteps coming. He quickly shut Adam off and shoved him in a drawer; he didn't want someone to see Adam.  
  
"Hey Tim," it was his friend Mike. "Considering how late you were here last night I wouldn't thin you'd be here so early.  
  
"It's funny you should say that, I… fell asleep here," Tim said with a grin on his face.  
  
"It figures, I'm gonna go get some coffee, you want me to bring you back some?" Mike asked heading back out the door.  
  
"You know, I think I'll come with you, I need a break." Tim caught up to Mike and the two headed down to the coffee room, little did Tim know, that when he shoved Adam into that drawer in such a hurry, the switch had been turned on.  
  
The walked down the hall, Tim was just so eager to blurt out what he had done. He just couldn't contain it anymore; he wanted people to know that he had created Adam. As they entered the coffee room, Mr. Byrne greeted them. "Hey, Mr. Garcia, I'm glad I found you," he said to Mike. Mike just knew he was going to be asked to work overtime.  
  
"Yes sir?" Mike said knowing just what to expect.  
  
"Well," Mr. Byrne said. "One of the employees assigned to work on the project your friend here is working on just quit on us, so you're in." Mr. Byrne said smiling.  
  
"In? In on what?" No one in the company even knew remotely what the team was working on.  
  
"Mr. Reed will brief you on everything that's been completed so far, I'll leave you two to that then," Mr. Byrne walked off and Tim and Mike walked to the coffee machine.  
  
Tim grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down. Mike joined him a second later. "So, what is it that this team does, everybody is always talking about it?" Mike asked anxiously.  
  
Tim briefed Mike about it all for about 30 minutes; he still had not mentioned that the project was pretty much complete. "So, how far along are you guys?" Mike asked curiously.  
  
"Well, we...um…we're finished, I'm finished. That's why I stayed here so late last night, I was on to a breakthrough," Tim was glad to finally tell someone else.  
  
"Really? Show me it, come on," Mike got up and ran back to the room Tim was working in. Tim followed to the room, when he got there he found Mike looking al around the room.  
  
"Oh, I stuffed it in here," Tim said, he walked to the drawer and opened it. He was shocked, Adam was missing. "I… I put it in the drawer," Tim rubbed his first and middle fingers against his temples. "Of course," Tim quickly ran to the lounge, and there, in front of the TV, was Adam, again.  
  
"Is that it?" Mike was amazed. He walked up to Adam and reached out to touch it. He hesitated; it was as if he had never touched metal before. He stroked the surface of Adam with his finger; it was as if he couldn't believe it was real. "C… can it talk?"  
  
"No, I just…" Tim was interrupted, by Adam.  
  
"Row bow tech," Adam said slowly. It was looking at the patch on Michael's shirt, which had the company name on it.  
  
"Um, I thought you said it couldn't talk?" Mike was confused.  
  
"It couldn't." 


	3. The Begining of the End

"Then where did it learn to talk," Mike asked. None of this made sense to either of this.  
  
"I don't know, I'm gonna go talk to the boss," Tim left the room in a hurry; he needed to talk to Mr. Byrne quickly. He ran into his boss's office and barged open the door. He could see Mr. Byrne was on the phone.  
  
"Yes, top secret, right," he must've been talking to one of the teachers he was hiring to teach Adam. "You'll have to excuse me, I have to go, I'll call you back," Mr. Byrne hung up the phone and turned towards Tim. "What is it."  
  
"It's Adam, he's talking." Mr. Byrne had a puzzled expression on his face. He wasn't making sense of this; nothing was making sense to anyone.  
  
"What do you mean, I thought he was going to learn at the speed of a normal human?" Mr. Byrne got up and began walking towards the room Adam was in.  
  
"That's what I thought, but there was no way I could anticipate its learning capabilities," he said following Mr. Byrne.  
  
"Anticipate? You designed it, what is there to anticipate?" his boss snapped back as they entered the room. Michael and Adam where gone, but Tim quickly ran to the lounge, whenever Adam was missing, he could easily be found watching the company's big-screen TV.  
  
"Mike, why didn't you guys stay in the other room," Tim snapped at Mike.  
  
"He wanted to watch TV, he seems to like it, a lot." Mike looked over at Adam, who was completely into what he was watching. It was MAD TV; damn good show if you ask me.  
  
"Whatever," Tim said walking over to Adam. "Now watch this..." Tim looked Adam in the eyes and greeted him. "Hello, I'm Tim." He said slowly.  
  
Just then, Tim received a response quite unusual. "Die asshole," Adam said slowly. Tim turned around to face the TV, and on the screen was a huge battlefield with people murdering each other. Men shouted profanities at one another while pumping their enemies full of lead.  
  
Tim should have seen it right there, if only he'd have paid more attention, if only he'd have begun to monitor what Adam, a highly impressionable mind, was allowed to watch on TV. He'd learned to talk from only watching 15 minutes or so of TV, imagine how quickly he could learn to kill.  
  
"So, how are the wife and kids," Tim asked Mike smiling gleefully. He knew Mike didn't have any kids, and that Mike feared dying alone, and yet he found pleasure from always tormenting him.  
  
"Oh bite me," Mike said jokingly. They were at a small fast food joint across the street from their company's building grabbing a quick bite to eat. They had only 20 minutes left until their lunch break was over, and they just got their food. "By the way, how's Adam doing, is he learning quickly," Mike asked, it had been 2 months since Adam had been created.  
  
"Oh, he's doing good. He learns so quickly you know, it's amazing," Tim said taking a bite of his burger. "The other day I was out driving and I had Adam with me, the boss wanted me to take him to a seminar to show him to some college students, and I flipped this asshole off who was driving like shit. Anyways, we're at the seminar, and he flips off one of the students. It was hilarious," Tim said.  
  
"Are you serious?" Mike asks in disbelief.  
  
"Yeah, now I can hardly ever get him to put his middle finger down, I knew it was a bad idea giving him 5 fingers, had I given him 4 he wouldn't have a middle finger now would he," Tim said chuckling lightly.  
  
"Talk about learning quickly, he watches one music video and suddenly can sing the whole song. That's why I don't let him watch music videos when he's around me, you didn't exactly give him a beautiful voice," Mike commented.  
  
"Yeah, you know, he sure does love TV, it's amazing."  
  
"Tell me about it. Lately, I've noticed he's been watching a lot of war movies," Mike said and suddenly Tim stopped what he was doing. He threw down his burger and began to run to the exit.  
  
"Shit, I have to get to Adam," Tim said hastily. He ran to the parking lot and headed towards his car. Mike was trying to keep up with him.  
  
"Why, what for," Mike asked trying to figure out what was going on.  
  
Tim ran into the room where he kept Adam. He looked around but couldn't find Adam anywhere. Tim ran to the TV room, and to his surprise, he wasn't there. Tim searched every room, looking everywhere, but he couldn't find him. Suddenly, Tim had a sudden desire to check the factory building, where in a few weeks they were going to begin mass production of robots just like Adam. "Shit shit shit," Tim chanted. Why hadn't he realized it before?  
  
Tim ran out of the building and got in his car. The factory was just down the street, but it hadn't even been opened yet. He didn't even think he'd be able to get inside, Tim had this horrible idea in the back of his mind, and he hoped he was wrong.  
  
Tim got out of his car and ran inside the building, unfortunately, it was locked. Tim banged his fist against the door then leaned up against to relax. Just then, Tim could hear noise; it was coming from the other side of the door. It sounded like a factory should sound, but the noise from another factory nearby made it hard to hear. He pressed his ear against the door and realized that inside this building, this building, whcih was supposed to be closed for another few weeks. He ran around to the back looking for a way in, and he found one. The back door was slightly opened, he ran straight to it and pulled it open completely, and what he found on the other side made him very, very nervous.  
  
On the other side of the door, were over 100 robots, some like Adam, some more like animals. Some were big, some were small, they were everywhere, they were working the machines, and they were being built by the machines. And in the middle of it all, stood Adam, barking orders at the machines, commanding them to work faster.  
  
This was it; it was the beginning, the beginning of the end of human dominance over this planet.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED... 


	4. Man's Last Hope

1 YEAR LATER...  
  
One year ago, a man named Tim Reed created a being, an artificial being with artificial intelligence; it was an act that would mark the end of humanities dominance over this planet. No longer would Earth be dominated by the humans, but instead, by the machines.  
  
Since the day when Adam, the first artificial being, was created, many more have been spawned. At first they were simply hostile, not liking humans, but now, they killed them on sight. A war had broken out; it was Man vs. Machines, and the machines were winning.  
  
Humans had been driven out of their homes and forced to live in the most barren and dry places. They had almost lost hope; they were about to give up, until one man came along.  
  
His name was John, John Mensch. He wasn't about to give up; he knew the humans still had a chance at winning. He gathered a huge army and began to fight back. His army killed thousands of machines, but they couldn't kill enough. By March 9^th, 2018, the human rebellion was just about crushed.  
  
John met with a group of men who were once world leaders, including the president. They held a meeting to decide their next strategic move.  
  
"What are we going to do, though we outnumber the machines 5 to 1, they are killing us, soon there will be nothing left of us," the ex-president said as he slammed his fist on the table.  
  
"Calm down Mr. President," bellowed Mensch. "We have to just sit down and think, what are we going to do."  
  
"I have an idea," said one man. He stood up and looked around the room. The meeting was being held in the dining room of an abandoned log cabin, they didn't exactly have much of a selection of locations.  
  
"What is it Sid," Mensch said to the man. "Tell us your idea."  
  
"We keep trying to kill them one by one, wouldn't it just be quicker if we went for their power supply? They are battery powered aren't they, we simply take out whatever they use to recharge," said Sid.  
  
"That won't work you fools," said a voice in the dark corner of the room. The man was wearing a dark brown cloak and his face was hidden. It was so dark that evening that no one had seen him there before.  
  
"Who are you?" Mensch said demandingly, he had sort of become the leader of the human rebellion.  
  
"Your plan will never work, the machines are solar powered, the only way to take out the power supply is to either block out or destroy the sun," the mysterious man said ignoring John Mensch's question.  
  
"Wait a minute, I thought Tim Reed built the robots to be battery powered," Sid spoke up.  
  
"Tim Reed did not built the robots, he built one robot, and that one built the rest," the mysterious man said, he said it in a sort of bothered or troubled tone. "So even if you find some miraculous way to destroy or block out the sun, Adam will still remain living, if you could call it that, and he will build more, this time finding a new power source. Face it, we're doomed," the cloaked man answered.  
  
"Then what do we do," demanded the ex-president as he stood up.  
  
"As I said," the cloaked man said in a harsh voice. "We're doomed... and it's all my fault," he said in a depressed tone.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about," the president demanded to know. The cloaked man pulled of his hood and stepped out of the darkness, the man was Tim Reed, the creator of the machines. "It's you," the president said bewildered. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Who better than to help destroy the machines that the creator of their leader?" Tim said smirking.  
  
"But I thought you had given up hope, you just said we were all doomed?" Mensch said.  
  
"Yeah," Tim said. "But there just might be a way we can win this after all." 


	5. Game Over

"What are you proposing we do?" asked Mensch quizzically.  
  
"Like is said, all we would have to do is block out the sun, that doesn't sound too hard now does it?" Reed replied sarcastically. "Though I think I might know just the man we could talk to."  
  
"Even if we did find a way to block out the sun, you said it yourself, Adam will still exist," the president said in a challenging tone of voice.  
  
"Yes, taking care of Adam will be the tough part, but for now we must worry about blocking out the sun," Tim replied.  
  
"Hold on a minute, Adam's battery powered, right?" said Sid, who had sat down just a while before. "Well, even the strongest batteries have to be recharged sometimes."  
  
"You're right," said Tim. "Though I placed a pretty strong battery inside him, there's no way it could've lasted a whole year."  
  
"What are you trying to say, you think Adam has some other source of power, what if he has adapted to solar power like the rest of them," Mensch said getting an idea. "If that's true, then we can just block out the sun and all the machines will be destroyed."  
  
"Perfect," Tim said. "We have a plan, I know just the man to help us."  
  
A doorbell rings, the door is opened by a man in his early thirties, it was Steven Scott, the co-worker of Tim's who had awaken him from the floor that fateful day.  
  
"Can I help you?" he asked.  
  
"Steven, is that you?" Tim asked. Him and John Mensch were standing at the door.  
  
"Hey, Tim, how's it going?" Steven asked opening the door. He used to live in a very nice apartment, until the machines took over that land and he was forced to run. He now lived in an abandoned house in the dessert.  
  
The two men stepped inside and walked over to a broken down table. Tim sat down on a three-legged chair while John decided he'd rather stand. "We've come to ask for your help," Mensch said.  
  
"Well, what is it?" Steven asked curiously. He went over to the pantry and grabbed out a couple of apples. There were no doors on the pantry so it made it easier to toss the apples back in when Tim and John refused. It's not that they weren't hungry, it's just that they didn't want to eat anything that looked as if it had been rolling around in the mud.  
  
"It's regarding the war, and the machines," Tim said. He knew Steven hated the machines, Steven had told him that sometimes he wished he had let Tim sleep longer that morning he found him asleep on the floor. He figured maybe I would have forgotten everything in my sleep, and never have been able to finish the project. "We think we've found a way to defeat them," Tim said, hoping to strike some interest into his old friend.  
  
Steven sighed hard. "Well, what can I do?" he asked, he always wanted to have a part in their destruction.  
  
Tim and John briefed Steven on their plan. They planned to somehow release chemicals into the atmosphere that would block out most of the light rays, thus not giving them enough light to power themselves.  
  
Before Steven had come to work at RoboTech, he was a chemist. Tim hoped he might know just the right chemical to do what they needed. The only problem with their plan was that the effects would last a few hundred years, making that period of time not very pleasant.  
  
Two weeks past while Steven Scott worked out a chemical that could perform the desired effects on the atmosphere. On March 27^th, 2018, it was ready. Steven had invented a chemical formula, which could successfully darken the sky and destroy the machines.  
  
A knock was heard coming from the door; Tim answered it as John sat around impatiently waiting. "So, how did it go?" Tim asked Steven, who was at the door.  
  
Steven stepped into the house in which they were meeting and removed his jacket. "It worked fine, it should take effect in a few days," he answered.  
  
"A few days?" Tim asked, he must have expected it to happen instantly. "It will take that long?"  
  
"Of course, it takes time, the chemical has to spread, we should start to see the sky darken slowly in a matter of hours," Steven replied calmly. "We just have to sit tight and wait," Steven said as he sat down.  
  
"What about the machines, do they know what we've done yet?" John asked. Steven shrugged his shoulders. John looked over and saw Tim smiling. "What are you smiling about?" he asked.  
  
Tim walked over to a cabinet near the wall and opened it up. He carefully lifted out two AK-47s, one shotgun, and six very powerful-looking handguns. He tossed an AK to Steven and the shotgun to John. Then he handed them each two of the handguns. He kept the other AK and handguns for himself.  
  
"It's for protection," he said as he tucked the two handguns into two holsters he just happened to have on him.  
  
"A little much don't you think?" Steven said as he adjusted the sight on his AK.  
  
"Trust me, I know how Adam thinks, I programmed his mind," Tim said placing a ammunition clip into the AK. "He's onto us right now, and we'll be lucky if we make it through this alive."  
  
The three of them sat and waited for about 3 hours. Every now and then one of them would get up, walk to the window, and look up at the sky.  
  
"I can see it getting darker," John said smiling. "We might actually make this thing work."  
  
Tim walked over to John and slapped him upside the head. "Of course it's getting darker, it's 7 p.m., the suns going down." John rubbed the back of his head. John walked back and sat down again, while Tim stayed at the window. He was looking somewhat depressed.  
  
"It's not your fault," Steven said, trying to put Tim at ease. "You had no way of knowing what was going to happen."  
  
"I know," he replied. "I just..." Tim began to walk back towards his chair.  
  
"Hold on..." John said. He stood up. "Do you hear that?" He ran to the window and looked out.  
  
"Shit, they're here!" Tim said. "Everybody, grab your weapons!" Tim picked up his AK and ran back to the window. He aimed out the window and over near the top of a hill.  
  
The sound of machinery could be heard coming closer as they each stood by the window, getting ready to shoot down anything that came near.  
  
"Shit, there they are," Steven said. He quickly fired a round of bullets at the top of the hill. Four machines rose up over the top of the hill, each of them humongous. Each of them was about 4 feet tall and 5 feet long. They had eight spidery legs, which carried them at speeds of over 40 MPH. John fired two shots and took down one of them. But before he could congratulate himself, the enemy more than made up for the loss. Above the three machines left rose 2 more. These ones hovered in the air. They had no legs, instead they had tentacles. As they drew nearer the three men fought them off as much as they could, but there were too many. By the time the machines had gotten 10 feet away, the men were out of ammo. They quickly threw their guns to the ground and pulled out their handguns. They darted for the back door and rushed outside.  
  
"That's it, we're doomed," John said. One of the flying robots flew over the building and darted in front of them. It stood in front of the three men, staring at them. Slowly a small gun-like extension ejected from the machines side and took aim at Steven. A small, red glow began to form at the tip of the barrel, but just before it shot out, the robot fell to the ground lifeless.  
  
Steven looked to his left to see Tim's right arm extended towards the spot where the machine had once been, with a smoking gun in his hands. Tim put the gun back in it's holster and the three once again began to run.  
  
By that time the other machines had found them and the chase was on. Steven turned around and started to run backwards. He shot with both guns simultaneously and destroyed two more of the spider machines. Steven prepared to shoot the last two robots. He took aim and fired.  
  
"Shit, I'm empty," Steven said. He dropped his guns and ran, but it was to late. The machines caught up.  
  
The game was over, for them anyway. Their main power supply was still being destroyed, and soon, the robots would be finished, right? Wrong?  
  
The next day, Tim Steven, and John all woke up in their own, separate beds. They each looked around, at their room, at their house, and at their life. And suddenly, they forgot everything; they forgot about the war, they forgot about the machines, they forgot about their entire lives. The robots had new lives for them now, new, programmed lives. Tim Reed, John Mensch, and Steven Scott were now part of a massive, computer-generated reality called The Matrix, and as far as they knew, everything was normal.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
A/N- Never fear my faithful readers, `tis not the end, hence the last three words in this chapter: "TO BE CONTINUED..." I would appreciate it if you would please not stop reviewing my story, even if you have reviewed it before. I like to know how the people like my story, it gives me a better idea of what to improve upon in the upcoming chapters. For those of you who wonder what left I have to continue, just wait and see. "Part Three" of The Matrix-The Beginning is coming soon, to a website near you. 


	6. Deja Vu

165 YEARS LATER

CITY: NEW YORK CITY

STATE: NEW YORK

COUNTRY: USA

REALITY: THE MATRIX

            Matthew Elleto was one of those kids who just never seemed to fit in. He was a senior in high school and somewhat of a loser. It's not that he was a complete nerd, the kind with 1-inch thick glasses and pants so high they reach his chest. It's just, he was the kind of kid who was extremely intelligent, he always knew the answers to everything. As most people know, the "brainiacs" aren't the most popular people in school.

            It was an early, Tuesday morning, Matt had woken up later than usual. He got slowly out of bed and looked up at the clock on his bedroom wall, which read 6:30 a.m. School started at 7:30, but the bus came an hour before. He sighed knowing he'd have to walk to school.

            He stood up and walked to his dresser. He always slept in his pajamas, but as he walked to the dresser to change into his normal clothes, he noticed he wasn't wearing them. He looked down at his body to discover he was already wearing his normal clothes. 

            "That's odd," he said. He could've sworn he'd gone to bed with them on, and he was almost positive he was wearing them even when he woke up just a few minutes ago. He lightly massaged his temples and shook his head lightly.

            He looked back at the clock, hoping maybe it would read 6:00 and he'd have more time. He nearly jumped back when he saw what was displayed on the clock.

            "Holy shit!!!" he cried. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, it still read 6:00. He decided that his clock must be broken, so he walked out into the kitchen. He looked at the clock next to the refrigerator.

            "Hmm, 6:30," he said curiously. His clock must've just jumped back.

            He figured he'd grab a bite to eat, and then head out to school. He'd need the extra energy for the walk. He walked to the refrigerator and looked at the calendar hanging on the door. He grabbed a pen on a nearby table and went to mark off yesterday on the calendar. He looked back at the calendar and drew an X over the box labeled October 15, 1960. 

He opened up the refrigerator and pulled out two slices of bread. He opened the door to his toaster oven and laid the pieces inside. He turned the temperature knob to a low temperature and left the room.

He walked over to his TV and turned it on. He cycled through the channels until he found one he liked. He quickly ran to the couch and sat down. He looked into the kitchen and at the toaster oven, which he could clearly see from where he was sitting. He wanted to keep an eye on it, that toaster was notorious for over-cooking, and thus burning, toast, or anything you put inside for that matter.

He put his feet his feet up on the coffee table to relax while his toast cooked, though he knew he had to hurry to get to school and should probably be doing other stuff to get ready. He started to drift off when he was awoken by laughter coming from the TV, one of the characters had just tripped another of them and he fell into a pool. He stood up and ran his hand through his hair. He walked to the kitchen and opened the toaster. He pulled out two burnt-to-the-crisp pieces of toast.

"Great, just great," he said as he threw the toast down on the kitchen counter-top. He looked at the clock once again. The time read 6:45; he'd better hurry.

He walked back into the living room to turn of the TV, but stopped when what was happening caught his eye.

One of the characters stuck out his foot while another tripped over it and fell into a swimming pool. 

"What the…" Matt was definitely having a weird day. First he woke up with his clothes on, then the clock turned back half an hour, now he was experiencing déjà vu. He turned off the TV and walked towards the door. Every day he went out the back door and around the house to the front. This was because he had to lock the front door before he left, but he had lost his spare key, which was a fact he never told his parents. He figured when the time came, he'd tell them it somehow got destroyed, or melted. That way, at least they wouldn't know there's a chance someone else could have a key to their house.

The back door was on the other side of the kitchen, which meant he'd have to walk through it. He entered the kitchen and decided he should throw away those burnt pieces of toast, he didn't want to attract ants.

Without looking he reached his hand down to pick up the toast. He walked over to the trashcan but stopped when he noticed something strange. The pieces of toast weren't hard, like normal burnt toast. He looked down, and in his hand, were two nicely toasted, lightly buttered, pieces of bread.


	7. The Agent

CITY: NEW YORK CITY

STATE: NEW YORK

COUNTRY: USA

REALITY: THE REAL WORLD

            A shadowy figure sat in front of a computer in a nearly destroyed building, typing slowly. Nothing of the figure whatsoever could be made out, only its human shape. The computer screen was black, with bright green text running down the screen rapidly. The text was not English, but composed of Greek letters and numbers. Suddenly the figure stopped, he looked closer at the screen, apparently watching something. Suddenly, his face came into focus. The being in front of the computer was no human, but a machine. His face was shiny and metallic, his eyes like the lens of a camera. His "eyes" focused on the corner of the screen. To any normal person, there was nothing there, just pointless green babble scrolling vertically across the screen. But to anyone who could read the code, in the corner of the screen, was Matthew Elleto. Why was this machine so interested in Matt? Even he didn't know, but he knew there was something, something about this human, that was… different.

THE MATRIX:

"God dammit," Matt sighed kicking a slightly large stone as he walked. He hated when he missed the bus, he hated walking, and he was always late. He kicked the stone and it rolled under a fence he was walking by. 'Well, there goes what little fun that was' he thought. He'd been walking for ten minutes, he only had about five minutes left, but he knew he wouldn't make it to school on time. 

            His stomach rumbled and groaned out of hunger. There was no way in hell he would ever eat a piece of toast that went from completely charred, to perfectly toasted and buttered in about 15 seconds, but now, he wished he had eaten it anyway.

            In the five minutes he had left of his walk he pondered, he pondered about what had happened that morning. What had happened? He was no longer really sure. Maybe it had all been a dream, maybe he had been sleeping. The clock changing was simple, as was the waking up in his clothes. Déjà vu, while still unexplainable, isn't that rare. But the toast, how the fuck could that have happened. Matt figured the only explanation is that he was dreaming, or just delusional. 

            Matt picked up the pace and broke into a run. Just up ahead was his school, and he could see the other students running to their classes. He knew there was barely any time until the bell would ring, and he would once again wind up spending 30 minutes after school in Mr. Pack's class in detention. As he ran he saw the last few students disappear into their classrooms as the bell rang loudly throughout the school. 

            He approached the school seconds later. He ran straight to his first period class, hoping maybe the other students would be giving Mr. Peck a loud time, like they always do, and he might not notice Matt walk in late. Unfortunately for him, the entire class was sitting quietly in their seat, with the exception of a few chattering girls discussing trivial matters like what they were going to wear tomorrow.

            "Ah, Mr. Elleto, how nice of you to join the class," Mr. Peck said sarcastically. "I'll be seeing you after class I suppose?" he chimed in while wearing that evil grin he always does when giving somebody a detention. Matt sighed and turned away to find his seat. He threw his heavy backpack down and sat next to his friend, Susan Gaits. They say opposites attract, it was certainly true with Matt and Susan, and not only in personality. On the appearance side, Matt was tall, skinny, light-skinned, with dark, black hair, while Susan was a bit shorter, slightly heavier, and was African-American. Now on the personality side, Susan was more of a fun-loving, carefree kind of person, who was very smart and always applied herself. Matt, on the other hand, was not. He hated his life and most people in it, and though he was smart, he hardly ever did his homework. Susan was two grades lower than Matt, but they both had Trigonometry first period. 'What a way to start out the day,' Matt always said.

            "Late again?" Susan asked, Matt had been late twice this week. Luckily he had slipped in unnoticed, though Matt could have sworn he had known, by the way Mr. Peck looked at him the rest of the day, even when passing through the halls.

            "I missed the bus again, some really weird shit happened this morning," Matt whispered to Susan. "I'll tell you about it after class." Matt pulled out his book and began studying. There was a quiz that day and he hadn't studied one bit.

            "Oh yeah, almost forgot to tell you…" Susan said to Matt. "There was this guy here, he was looking for you," she said curiously. "He was dressed like a CIA agent or some shit, are you in trouble," she said it kind of gleefully. Matt hardly ever got into trouble. He was the quiet type, the type that got picked on, but instead of getting into confrontation, he bottled everything up, waiting until the day when he'd explode and destroy everything in his path.

            "No," Matt said. "What did he say?" He looked very worried.

            "He just said he _needed_ to see you, he asked everybody if they knew you, I told him I'd never seen you," she said reassuringly. "I told him he probably had the wrong school."

            Matt continued the rest of the day wondering about what kind of trouble he was in. Nothing was making sense today. Stuff like this happened a few times in his life. It's not as if this was the first time crazy things have happened, but this was all happening in one day. The end of the day came and he made his way back to Mr. Peck's class. It was bad enough spending an hour a day in his class, but detention with him was hell.

            As he walked through the halls towards the classroom he spotted something in the corner of his left eye. In the middle of the adjacent hall was a man, about 6 feet tall, with slick brown hair, wearing a black suit with a plain black tie and dark sunglasses. In his right ear was a small earpiece with a long, curly, clear cord running down the back of his ear and underneath his shirt. He had a serious, almost inhuman, expression on his face. 'With the way things are going today, he probably isn't human,' Matt thought as he ran and hid around the corner. He flattened himself up against the wall and slowly peeked around the corner to listen in.

            "If you see him, tell him we're looking for him," he heard the man say. He was talking to one of the juniors at his school who he hardly knew. 

            "Um, what should I tell him your name is?" the junior asked in a high-pitched and fearful voice. The mysterious man stopped as if he were pondering. His expression was slightly angered.

            "Smith," he said. He said as if making it up. "My name is Smith, if you find him, call me, here's my number," Smith handed the kid a blank business card with a number written on it. The kid slipped it in his pocket as Smith left. The junior turned to walk down the corridor in Matt's direction.

            As the kid got closer Matt made a run for the other direction. He didn't want the kid to find him and call that Smith guy. It was too late.

            "Hey, you, wait up," the kid ran after Matt and caught up to him. "There was a guy looking for him, some kind of federal agent. He said his name was Smith, Agent Smith," the kid said looking up at Matt and gasping for breath.

            "I know, I heard him talking to you, did he say what he wanted," Matt said menacingly. The kid shook his head and Matt turned around to walk away. 

            "Should I tell him I found you?" the kid asked fearfully. This kid seemed to be very easily intimidated. "I won't if you don't want me to."

            "Whatever, go ahead," Matt said waving his hand as if shooing him off like a fly or a bee. This day had been too much for him, he just wanted to go home and relax.

            Matt stepped in the door and set down his backpack. "Hello, is anybody home?" he called out, no reply. His parents usually got home around the time he did, and he didn't have any siblings.

            He massaged his shoulder to relieve himself of the pain of carrying a 20-pound backpack all the way from school to home. He had missed the bus going home also, all because of his detention. He headed down he hall to his room but stopped halfway down the hall. He had walked through this hall millions if not billions of times, but he never really stopped to pay attention to the huge display of family photographs on the walls. On this wall were pictures of aunts and uncle, grandmas and grandpas, and all kinds of ancestors. Most of them were still alive or just recently deceased. But a few of them, like his great-great-grandfather, still lived on through this memorial wall. It was this photo of his great-great-grandfather that caught his eye. He knew little about most of the older ancestors on this wall, but he knew the least about this one. Just as he was staring at this photo, his mom walked in the door carrying a few bags of groceries.

            "Hey, Matt, is that you?" she asked.

            "Yeah mom," he replied staring away from the wall for just a second or two. "Hey mom?" he called out.

            "Yes honey," she replied as she set down the groceries. She made her way into the hall and stood next to Matt.

            "Who is this, I mean, I know he's your great-grandfather, but what was his name?" he asked curiosusly.

            "Well, that would be my father's dad's father, I believe his first name was…" she paused for a moment. "Oh yeah, Tim," she said finally.

            "So his last name was your maiden name, right?" he asked.

            "Right, Tim Reed was his name," she said. "I never knew him, but my dad always said he was kind of… well, insane."

            "What do you mean?" he asked.

            "I don't know, he died in a mental institution, he always spoke of this really weird shit, my dad said he'd be normal one day, and the next, he acted like he was from another world. Supposedly he also claimed something about the human race ending in the spring of 2018," she finished.

            The phone rang in the kitchen as Matt's mom went to answer it. Matt stood there staring at the picture. What was it about this picture that caught his eye, what was it about Tim Reed, his great-great-grandpa, that interested him so much. Just as he took his eye away from the portrait, he heard his mom call from the kitchen.

            "Matt, I have to go pick up your father, he locked his keys in his car," she called out as she picked up her keys. "I'll be back soon, get started on you homework," she added as she stepped out the door.

            Matt walked into his room and sat down by his desk. Just as he got ready to start his homework, he realized he had left his backpack by the door. He got up and walked to the door. He found it right where he had left it and carried it back to his room, and as he walked pass the portrait, he couldn't help but stop to look at it just once more.

            As soon as he had barely started his homework, Matt heard a knock at the door. He got up and sighed. The person at the door knocked again. He set down what he was doing and walked to the door.

            "Coming!" he called out to the impatient knocker as he, or she, knocked again. "Hold on," he said as he opened the door. Little did he know that on the other side of the door, was the mysterious Agent Smith. 


	8. Escape

            "As you probably know already, my name is Agent Smith," the man said in a cold, menacing voice. Matt looked up at the man, wondering if he'd ever seen him before. No, the face was completely foreign to him.

            "Don't think I didn't know you were there, watching me," he said even more menacingly than before. The two were in a car, the man had flashed an FBI badge, probably a fake, and was taking him to who-knows-where. "I know more about you that you probably know yourself," his voice never changed, never altered. He never showed anger, or hatred, or any emotion whatsoever. His voice was monotonous, so plain, cold, inhuman.

            "What did I do?" Matt asked demandingly. Matt wanted answers and he wanted them now. Smith said nothing the rest of the way there.

            Matt sat in an uncomfortable, rusty, collapsible chair in a cold, dark room. The room had one exit, and one exit only. Smith had led him in there and left for a second. The thought of escape crossed his mind several times, but were quickly dismissed. He sat waiting for about 10 minutes, when the door opened, and two men walked in.

            One of them was Smith, and maybe so was the other. They were almost identical. They both had the same neat, black suit, the same clean, black hair, and the same cold, stern expression on their faces. There were few differences aside from the fact that the new guy was a bit bigger, and even meaner looking. 'They must be brothers,' Matt thought.

            "Who are you?" Matt asked angrily, not entirely expecting a reply. So far, these guys hadn't exactly answered a whole lot of questions.

            The new guy looked at Agent Smith quizzically, and suddenly, as if improvising, Mr. Smith answered the question. "This is my colleague, Mr. Brown," Smith said. Mr. Smith pulled Brown into a corner as they silently began talking.

            Mr. Brown nodded his head as the two left the room. Once, again, Matt sat in the cold, empty room alone.

            The walls, for the most part, were pretty bare. He looked around the wall as his eye caught something on the back wall, behind him. Right behind where he was sitting was a degree from Brown University. The name Brown stood clearly out. He remembered back to when he overheard Smith and that junior talking. He suddenly remembered, that the hallway in which they were in was right by Mr. Smith's class, one of the sophomore English teachers. 

            Suddenly, everything made even less sense than it did before. Had these men made up their name, and if so, why? Why on earth would they make up names, don't they have their own? Question after question ran through his mind, until one stood out above the other. 'Should I escape?'

He bolted to the door at lightning speed, and prayed for it to be unlocked.

            "Shit," he exclaimed. He was furious by now. In a fit of anger, he pounded his fist against the door, and it blew right off the hinges.

            It flew completely off about 10 feet. Matt stared down at his hand, he had never been very strong at all, let alone able to knock a door off its hinges.

            Thoughts continued to race through his mind, he was frightened, and confused. He quickly bolted out the door way and onto the sidewalk, hoping to be unseen. But, as things were going that day, the two mysterious men spotted him. They broke up, one followed after him, as the other went to head him off. Matt quickly turned a corner, but stopped immediately he flattened himself up against the wall and crouched down. Matt quickly stuck his foot out just as Agent Brown ran by. Brown stumbled on Matt's foot and fell to the ground. He rolled on the ground once or twice but quickly got back to his feet, just in time to see his own 9mm handgun, fall into the hands of Matt. 

            A boost of confidence swept across Matt, just to be crushed by the sight of Agent Brown drawing forth a second weapon. He quickly darted back around the corner and headed the other way, every now and then checking behind him to spot for the two men. 

            This was all happening way too fast, but whether he liked it or not, it was happening, and he would have to deal with it. 

            Just a day ago, Matt had been living out his somewhat normal life. But in one day, it all became total chaos. He was running from two men who claimed to be government officials, but who were definitely full of shit.

            As he ran he spotted a dirt road, leading off from the sidewalk into the hills. He swiftly turned onto it and headed up into the hills, and just as he looked back, he spotted Smith headed his way. He drew his gun and fired once, twice, three times at Matt, but Matt hesitated to return the fire. He ran up the dirt road to the top of the hill and headed down, but was stopped when he saw the long, tall chain-link fence that blocked him from going any further.

            By now he was fed up, he leaned his back against the fence and waited. He waited for the two men to come, and either take him back into custody, or kill him. Just as he had given up, just as he lay there against the chain-link fence, he fell. He stumbled on his back, which was once resting against the sturdy, upright fence, which was now completely out of sight.

            Without thinking, without hesitating, he got up and ran once again, only to be stopped by a deep, harsh voice.

            "Give it up, Mr. Elleto," Smith said menacingly. Matt slowly turned around, knowing what was behind him, he was right. There Mr. Smith stood, with a gun in his hand, aimed at Matt. "It's the end of the line, looks like the game's over," he said just as sternly as ever.

            For a second, Matt believed him. But just as he was about to put his hands up, he remembered the gun. It was still in his pocket, he had put it there while running up the dirt road. Matt smiled an evil smile as he made his move. With lightning speed and incredible agility, Matt drew the gun and fired six shots upon his unsuspecting enemy, but what happened next, was beyond anything he could believe. 


	9. The Awakening

            The six lead bullets flew through the air faster than the eye could see, but Matt's jaw dropped in disbelief as the bullets flew off, into the distance, only to be stopped by a small wooden fence in the distance. Matt knew he hadn't just missed, because Smith was no longer there. In the blink of an eye, he had disappeared. In shock, Matt backed up. He figured he had better run as far and as fast as he could. But he stopped the moment he turned around. 

            There, standing 30 feet in front of him was Agent Smith, his gun held out in front of him, aimed straight at Matt's head. For a second, Matt could have sworn he was Smith smile, a kind of evil smile, but a smile. Suddenly, as Agent Smith fired his gun, everything seemed to slow down. It was as if the whole world was put into slow motion. The bullet left the gun slowly. Matt watched as it was thrown through the air. Matt acted quickly; he leaned over to his right and somersaulted out of the way. The Agent fired again, but this time, four shots flew through the air. Once again he dodged the bullets by somersaulting. He landed as the Agent took the now empty clip from his gun and pulled out another. Matt took advantage of this and drew forth his gun. Not giving the Agent a chance to dodge this shot, he fired just once. The bullet fled through the air at enormous speed and Smith fell dead, with a bullet in his forehead.

            As Matt breathed a sigh of relief, he was blinded by a flash of blue, electric light, which emitted from where Smith lay dead. The blue light faded as Matt stepped toward the corpse. As he opened his eyes, he expected to see the dead, cold corpse of Agent Smith, but what he saw instead, drew him insane.

            He bent down next to the body; it was that of his own mother. He observed the bullet whole in her head as a tear formed in his eye. 

            Slowly, he looked up as a hand was laid upon his shoulder. "Come with me, Mr. Elleto," said a cold, heartless voice.

            "What the FUCK just happened back there," Matt demanded to know as he held back the inevitable tears.

            "You see, Mr. Elleto, it's all very complex," Agent Brown said back in the small interrogation room. Matt sat in the same chair he had sat in before.

            "Look, this has gone on long enough, I have been through enough shit today, just tell me what the fuck is going on, who are you people?" he said angrily.

            "Why, it's funny you should say that," Smith broke in.

            "Why is it funny," Matt said in a mix between a confused, and angry voice.

            "It's funny, Mr. Elleto, because we are not really people at all," Smith continued. For the first time since Matt had seen him, he removed his sunglasses and tucked them into the inside pocket of his suit. Matt sat there, trying to make sense of it all in his mind. "You see, for the past sixteen decades…" he started up again, but was interrupted by Agent Brown.

            The two huddled together and conversed quietly. Matt could hardly make out their conversation.

            "Are you sure we should tell him, can't we just kill him?" Brown whispered.

            "No, that wouldn't work, you remember what He said, there's something odd about this one," Smith replied. "We'll tell him, then see how everything goes from there."

            "I just don't think it's a good idea," Brown shot back just slightly loud enough for Matt to overhear.

            "Plus, I doubt killing him would even work. He already dodged one shot of mine, what's to stop him from dodging the rest," Smith replied just as he was backing away from the huddle.

            Smith sat back down in front of Matt and resumed the conversation. "Where was I… ah yes," Smith picked up from where he was.

            "Have you ever felt like you were unsure of what was real, and what was not?" Smith asked, but he didn't wait for a reply. "Were you ever not sure, if what you were experiencing was real, or just a dream?"

            Matt didn't reply, instead he sat there quietly, not saying a word.

            For the next half-hour or so, Smith and Brown explained the Matrix to Matt. It took a lot longer that it would have normally taken, considering the date and current technology. Mankind had only begun to build computers and they weren't exactly in every household. Matt was shocked beyond belief. He had known something was wrong all along, but this, this was absurd.

            "So you see, Mr. Elleto, you've been living in a dream world. Whether you like it or not, this… this world, it's all fake," Matt sat there, with his head down, trying to take all of it in while Smith and Brown moved into a corner once again to talk.

            Matt finally lifted his head, and looked into the giant mirror on the wall to his right. He had originally thought that there must be men on the other side of that mirror, men watching him and recording everything that went on, but by now he had discarded that theory. As he stared into the mirror at himself, he began to feel a slight pressure against the back of his head. He looked closer into the mirror but saw nothing behind his head, but he insisted on reaching behind his head anyway.

            He ran the palm of his hand down the back off his head and stopped halfway down. He moved his hand around as he felt something. His hand grasped around something pressed against the back of his head. He looked into the mirror but saw nothing. The feel and shape of it resembled that of an electrical outlet, but it was longer and thinner. He felt around it until his finger came around to what felt like a big button.

            Just as he contemplated pushing it, Smith turned from his conversation with Brown to face Matt. Smith quickly looked to Brown, whose attention had also been diverted, and the two sprang towards Matt in attempt to stop him. But they were too late; Matt pressed his finger down on the button as a sharp, stinging pain came upon the back of his head.  

            Suddenly Matt woke up, but it was unlike any awakening he had experienced before. Every morning he awoke in his nice, comfortable beds, nice and warm, but this time, he awoke in a vat of cold, pink goop. He quickly rose out of the goop and stared down at his body. His skin was pale and white, his head was completely bald, and his arms, chest, and back were covered in little black plugs with cords and wires plugged into them. 

            He stared around at his surroundings and was petrified. He had woken up in a glass, pod-like tub, and all around him were a million others. Now usually, when a person said the word "million" they are usually exaggerating. For example, one might say "I told you a million times!" but everyone knows they don't really mean one million. But for Matt, this was more of an understatement than an exaggeration. The pod was mounted to the outside wall of a gigantic, cylindrical building, and there were at least twenty others he could see, though he knew there had to be thousands more behind him and out in the distance. In each of the towers were thousands of identical pods, all filled with people, some contained old men, and some carried little children. He even saw a few with babies that looked as though they had just been born. But above all of this, what was even more shocking, was the machines. Huge, flying machines flew from pod to pod. Sometimes the machine would fly to an empty pod and place a newborn baby inside the pod, other times it would go and remove a body, one that was obviously deceased. 

            Matt slowly pulled the plugs from his arms and from his body. Once he was sure all of the plugs were gone, he began to stand up. As he stood in the vat of cold goop, he rubbed the back of his head as he had done before. Only this time, he felt an empty hole; one similar to the one's all over his arms. He figured that was where the plug he had felt behind his head had gone in.

            He soon noticed he was completely naked, and consequently very cold. He first thought to cover up, but then realized there wasn't exactly anyone around to see him. He knew he had to get out of here, somehow. He couldn't just stay in this pod forever, and if he tried, they must've known he was out of the "Matrix" as the Agents called it. For some odd reason he had gotten used to calling them Agents, even though he knew now that they weren't even involved with the government. If they knew he was out they'd come looking for him, and probably kill him. He knew he had to do something, but what.

            As he was contemplating, he looked down below and noticed a slightly larger machine cleaning out the empty pod below. He figured the distance to be short enough to jump from, and made his move. His leaped out of pod and landed and the machines back with a thud. Matt watched the world fade away as he quickly drifted into a state of unconsciousness.


	10. The Rebellion

            Matt opened his eyes to world completely unfamiliar. He lifted his head off of the cold dirt and sat up. Slowly, he looked around him, trying to find out where he was. He turned his head around and saw it. Not too far behind him were those buildings, the tall, cylindrical buildings that housed the small bathtub-like pods.

            'What had happened' he wondered. He remembered waking up in that strange tub of goop, then jumping onto the back of the machine, but after that he completely blacked out. Had he fallen off? He wasn't sure, but his extreme back pain made it seem likely.

            Matt stood up and looked down at his body. He sighed as he saw his naked body covered in small black holes. He stood there for a while, wondering what to do, where to go next, until he saw them. Just up ahead, coming from the place with the pods, were three of those flying machines, and they were headed straight for him.

            "Shit," he shouted aloud and started running the other way. At least he tried, he tried to run but he couldn't. He could barely walk, his legs, his arms, all his muscles felt like they had completely atrophied. Matt watched as they approached, and realized they'd kill him as soon as they caught up, but he tried anyway.

            He struggled to escape, but as they drew nearer he realized he was doomed. He stopped and turned around to face them, but just before reaching him, a huge wave seemed to pass over them all and the machines fell lifeless.

            Matt looked in amazement, just before passing out again.

            "I think he's waking up," Matt heard a voice say as he was waking up. The voice was that of a man's, it was a deep, mysterious voice. Matt rubbed his eyes and sat up, he was in a dark, cold room. He looked down at his body, he was dressed in a gray, old shirt. He looked to his right to see about 7 people sitting at a table eating some kind of gray mush.

            "Where am I?" he asked them. They were already getting up to walk towards him, but one of them, a male, motioned for them all to sit back down. He alone walked to Matt and sat down next to him.

            "My name is Gary, and we're here to help," he said in a soft, compassionate voice.

            "Who are all of you?" Matt asked.

            "You're very important to us, you see. We need you," Gary replied mysteriously.

            "Need me, for what?" Matt asked curiously.

            "You're probably hungry, allow me to explain everything over breakfast." Gary led Matt to the table and they sat down. Gary poured Matt a bowlful of mush and sat him down to talk. Gary explained to Matt where he was and why he was there, even though that man had already explained it to him.       

            "Tell me again, why I'm so important," Matt asked while slowly pouring a spoonful of the gray mush into his mouth.

            Gary folded his hands and laid them on the able in front of him. "You see," he said slowly. "For the past two-hundred years, my people have ran from the machines, avoiding capture. We've hid in underground cities like this one, and in old subways tunnels, everywhere we could. We did a good job too; we managed to stay away for the most part. But the one thing that always got us is that though we were safe from the machines, safe from the matrix, others were not. Until you, no human has ever been inside the Matrix and come out, and how you did it, is a mystery to us."

            "That still doesn't tell me why you need me?" Matt asked.

            "You see, because no one has ever been able to escape the matrix, we haven't been able to find a way to get others out too. Our goal is to free mankind and restore this world to them."

            Matt rubbed his head as if he had an extreme migraine headache. "Wait a minute, when you say 'our' how many people like you are there?"

            "Not many, a few hundred maybe. Our numbers have been decreasing in the past few decades. These condition aren't exactly the kind that get people in the mood to procreate," he said somewhat jokingly.

            "Right, so what do you need from me?" Matt asked.

            "Your plugs," Gary replied, pointing to Matt's arm. Matt lifted up his sleeve to reveal the small, black plug outlets. "We figure if we can send you back into the matrix, you can pull others out with you somehow."

            "How? We don't even know how I got out," Matt snapped back.

            "That's why we need to talk to you. Do you remember what happened right before you woke up in this world? Do you remember at all?" Gary asked.

            "Yeah, I do. These two men, they were interrogating me, then they started explaining everything you explained earlier, about the matrix, about the machines, about all of it, except you guys."

            "Then what?" Gary asked excitedly.

            "After that I felt something against the back of my head, kind of like a plug. I could even feel it with my hands, but in the nearby mirror I couldn't see anything." When Matt said that, an unusual and puzzled look spread across Gary's face. "What is it?" Matt asked.

            "That may be it, the plug didn't appear until you realized the truth, until you discovered the matrix existed. Maybe that's all that's needed, is to know the truth," Gary said thoughtfully as he stood up. "Come with me," he motioned for Matt to follow as he walked off into another room. 

            Matt followed Gary into a room filled with wires, cables, and machinery. In the middle of the room was something not unfamiliar to him; it was a pod, just like the one he had woken up in.

            "We found it about 5 years ago at the base of one of the towers. Most of liquid had either spilled out of evaporated, but the body was still there," Gary said, and suddenly, he looked kind of sad. He gave a slight shake of his head and his face returned to normal. "We plan to use this to get you back in, we've been fixing it up since we got it, hoping someone like you would come along someday" he finished.

            "But how do you plan to get me back in?" Matt asked.

            "You remember the power plant you woke up in, the place with all the towers and pods?" Gary asked. Without waiting for a reply he continued, "Each state in the U.S. alone has about 25 of these, and they are all connecting to a gigantic main server in Texas. All of the machine's power plants in the world run to this through underground wires, some as thin as a hair, others as thick as an aluminum can. About three years ago one of our men stumbled upon and uprooted wire, it just so happened to be the necessary wire for connecting into the matrix. After 3 years of wiring and working, we think we can successfully hook you into the matrix."

            "What if it doesn't work?" Matt asked.

            "You could be killed." Gary replied solemnly.

            "I'll do it," Matt said stepping forward. "Hook me up and I'll do it." But before Gary could reply he was already climbing into the pod.

            Gary ran his fingers through his short, light brown hair, then shouted for the others to come in. "Jacob, Nicole, Sean, come here!!!" he called out as two men and one woman entered the room. "I think we're going in," Gary told them excitedly.

            Gary walked beside Matt as he lay ready to try out what could easily kill him. "Are you sure you're ready to do this, are you sure you don't want to wait?" he asked.

            "I'm positive, plug me in," he replied confidently. Nicole, a good looking woman, pulled out a long black plug with a enormous protruding needle.

            "Let me just plug this into the back of your head and we're set," she said smiling.

            "On second thought, maybe I will wait a bit to do this," Matt said jokingly.

            "Don't worry, you wont feel a thing," she said before quietly adding, "I think."

            "What was that last thing you sa…" Matt started to say, but was interrupted as the long needle entered the back of his skull and everything went black.

            Suddenly everything faded in again, and he was no longer half naked lying in a dirty pod in an underground city, but he was neatly dressed, standing on the street, in the center of New York city.


	11. A Successful Mission

            As Matt looked around at the world he once called home, he could no longer help but feel like a stranger, a stranger to this world, if you could call it that. Matt's thoughts were interrupted by a loud ringing from his inside shirt pocket. He slowly reached his hand into the pocket and pulled out a sleek, black, cellular phone and held it to his ear.

            "Um… hello," he answered.

            "How do you feel Matt?" a voice on the other end answered. It was Gary.

            "Fine, I guess," Matt responded cheerfully. "God, it all seems so real."

            "I'm sure it does. Now, let's get to work. By looking around can you tell us where you are?"

            "Um…" Matt says looking around. "New York, I think. It's not to far from my house." Matt recognized the street he was on slightly, he had gone driven down this road a few times before, usually just passing through, but at least he knew where he was.

            "Can you make your way back to where you were, the place you were at before you… woke up," Gary asked. Gary was sitting besides Matt's body, talking to him via a small headset.

            "I think so. Yeah, I can," Matt responded confidently. But just as he began heading down the sidewalk, he was forced to turn around quickly.

            "Shit," Matt said turning around and walking the other way. "It's them."

            "Who?" Gary asked curiously.

            "Those men I told you about, they're headed for me," Matt was running now. The two men were chasing him now.

            "Shit, that's not good. Look, you're going to have to fight back," Gary said.

            "How am I supposed to do that?" Matt demanded.

            "I have to go, check your belt," Gary finished, and then he was gone, leaving Matt alone. Matt reached for his belt and felt a sudden rush as he ran his hand over the sleek, black 9mm handgun. Without hesitating, he pulled it out of its holster and continued running. He darted down the street and turned swiftly into a nearby alley. Matt ran down the army and ducked in between two dumpsters. He held his gun out slightly in front of him, hoping they would run straight past him.

            Lucky enough for Matt, the two men ran past him, not even noticing Matt or the gun he held. But before Matt could let out a sigh of relief, one of them paused. Smith held out his arm motioning for Brown to stop. Both slowly started walking back, walking back towards where Matt was waiting, and he knew it was now or never. 

            As quickly as possible he stood up, held the gun out in front of him, and fired away. But to his amazement, both men still stood. Their movements were unrealistic, it happened in the blink of an eye. It was impossible to explain, words could not describe it. Matt backed away and dropped his gun as Smith drew his weapon and fired. 

            The bullet came at him, and Matt felt it happen again. As before, everything seemed to slow down. The bullet inched towards him and Matt looked up. Behind him was a one-story building, with the ledge not too high above him. Matt flew into the air and flipped backwards, landing with his feet on the building above.

            The agents followed as the leaped with ease onto the building and the chase resumed. Matt fled across the roof of the building dodging the agents' shots. He leaped off of the building and back onto the street. Up ahead was a crowd, the perfect place to hide. Matt darted into the middle of the crowd and attempted to hide.

            Matt stayed low as he slowly worked his was down the street avoiding the agents. He managed to get far enough so he got to his feet and broke into a run. He ran as fast as he could, his heart pounding in his chest, he ran until the agents were completely out of sight.

            Matt reached into his coat pocket and grabbed the cell phone. But before he could call Gary, he remembered, he didn't know the phone number to call. Then, as if reading his mind, his phone rang. Matt answered it immediately with a sigh of relief.

            "Gary, is that you?" Matt asked.

            "Yeah, what happened?" Gary asked curiously.

            "I got away, it was… amazing."

            "What do you mean?"

            "I… I did things I never knew I could do before, it all felt like a dream," Matt said, still amazed from before.

            "That's because it is a dream, you have to remember that. Now we have to get going. I want you to go to where it happened, call me when you get there, the number is 555-0690," and with that Gary hung up. Once again Gary had hung up, leaving Matt alone. Matt was left alone in a world, which he once knew as home, but now, it was completely foreign to him. But unfortunately there was no time to dwell on memories, the agents were close on his tail and he was on a mission.

            Matt entered the door and looked around. He looked around at the light brown walls lightly covered in plaques, awards, and diplomas, the kinds of things detectives and professional interrogators would have. Then he looked over at the wall, the one with the giant mirror spanning over nearly the entire wall. 

            "Matt, is that you?" Gary answered.

            "Yeah, I'm at the place where it happened, its some kind of police interrogation room. There are two doors, one leading outside and another leading I don't know where." Matt answered. "They also have one of those big mirrors that is actually a window on the other side, the kind they usually have in these types of rooms."

"Okay, um…" Gary hesitated. "Just look around."

            "Look around for what? What am I supposed to find" Matt asked.

            "I don't know, just look for anything out of the ordinary. Try checking on the other side of the glass." Matt set phone down lightly on one of the chairs and balled his hand into a tight fist. Suddenly he hurled his fist into the glass, sending shards of broken glass everywhere. Matt was shocked. He expected to maybe crack the glass a bit, but he had done a lot more. Not to mention the lack of pain that usually accompanies shattering glass with your bare first. This newfound strength was amazing, it was almost as if he could do anything. 

            Matt reached back over and picked up the cell phone as he stepped into the small room behind the glass.  

            "Well, there doesn't seem to be much, just a computer, some filing cabinets and an old rotary phone." Matt told Gary over the phone. 

            "The computer, see what's on it," Gary told him. Matt set down the phone and turned on the computer. Slowly the screen started flashing, and a desktop came up. The screen had only a few icons, and after searching through the files he found nothing.

            "There's nothing here, nothing but a lot of police records and files. The same is probably true for the filing cabinet." Matt said disappointedly.

            "Shit, what about the phone, see if it works." Matt slowly reached from the phone and picked it up. But as he put it to his ear, something happened. A weird feeling overcame him, he had felt it somewhat right before he had woken up. He quickly slammed the phone down on the receiver and shook his head, trying to shake away the weird feeling.

            "Matt, you all right?" Gary asked worriedly.

            "Yeah, yeah, fine," Matt said dazed. "Something happened. When I picked up the phone I got this weird feeling, kind of like the one I got the last time I was here."

            "I have an idea. Give me the number on the phone." Gary said sounding excited.

            "What? Why?" Matt asked confused.

            "Just do it, I have an idea. You see, the Matrix and the Real World are connected through a hard-line, similar to the type of phone line that connects most phones."

            "The number is…" Matt said searching around for the number. He turned the phones receiver over to find the phone's number written on the bottom. "Here we go, it's 1-909-597-4066," Matt said waiting for a response. There was none, the line must've been cut. Just when Matt was about to panic he stopped himself, and realized Gary had just hung up in order to dial the number on the other phone. Sure enough, the phone beside him began to ring slightly. Matt reached his hand over and gripped the phone tightly, hesitating to pick it up. Afraid of the strange, mysterious feeling, he reluctantly lifted the phone to his ear, and the moment his ear touched the phone, he was back in the real world.


End file.
